St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-03
THE INTERSTATELAW.
Presentation Of the First An
nual Report Of the
Commission.
It Reviews the Work Of the
Year in a Comprehen-
SiVe Manner.
An Inkling Of What Will Be
Contained in Cleve-
lands Message.
The Democratic Caucus--Gen-
eral News From Wash
ington.

nual report of the interstate commerce
commission has been laid before the
secretary of the interior. 1t is printed
document exclusive of tabular appen-
dices which are not ready of forty-three
pages, and bears the signatures of all
the commissioners. After dwelling
briefly upon the magnitude of the in
terests which the act undertakes to reg
ulate, the commission devOteS dozen
pages to historic sketch of the country's IS
transportation facilities, from the pack
horse and canoe of the early days to the
mammoth institutions of the present;
tracing back to their original those
grievances and abuses which finally led
to the passage of the interstate act.
| Under the heading, 1.-THE carriers sub
ject to its the act's) Jurisdiction" the
commission says that some of the rail-
road practices which the act undertakes S
to bring to an end, have been common
among carriers by water also, and
IF WRONG IN THEMSELVES
might Justly be forbidden in their case
as we'll. 1t does not, however, intend
to intimate an opinion that these things
are common. The commission is of
opinion that the express business done
by the railroad companies themselves is
within tine act. Whether the express
companies which are independent of
the railroads are within the cOntempla-
ton of the act is more doubtful. In re-
gard to the sleeping car companies, live
stock car companies and Oil companies
which transport in tank cars,
| the commission say they are
as much Subject to the temp
tatiOn to discriminate as the railroads
are, and the fact is laid before congress
for such action as it may choose to take
in the premises. The long and short
haul clause is eXhaustively discussed,
together with the reasons of the COM
mission for temporarily suspending the
provision in certain sections, and they
say, in part: 1.-THE considerations
when these temporary orders should be
granted were not more the re-
liet of the carriers from danger
of loss than the prevention of
threatened disturbance of business in
| tereSts in certain localities, which by
its reflex action seemed liable to. en-
barrass seriously the entire country"
Its final conclusion, as announced in the
Louisville 81 Nashville case, and the
| general acceptance that it met with are
recited, and the report adds: 1.-The COM
mission takes pleasure now in being
able to report that in large sections of
the country obedience to the general
| rule of the fourth section is without I'M
| portant exception"
| REVIEWING RAILWAY OPERATIONS
| during the period which has elapsed
| since the act took effect, the commission
| feels warranted in saying that while
| less has been done in the direction of
bringing the freight tariffs into con-
fOrInity with the general rule prescribed
by the fourth section that some people
perhaps expected, there has, neverthe-
less been gratifying advance in that
direction, and there is every reason to
believe that this will continue. The
commission, after quoting that part Of
the twelfth section which empowers
it to Enquire into the business
of all common carriers, says: "This is
very important provision, and the
commission will no doubt have frequent
occasion to take action under it. 1t will
not hesitate to do so in any case in
which mischief of public Importance
is thought to exist and which is not
likely to be brought to its attention ON
complaint of private prosecutor.
There is every reason to believe, how
ever, that some of the most serious
evils which were notorious in the
railway service before the passage of
the act, and were in the legislative mind
as reasons for its enactment, have now
almost ceased to exist. One of these
was the giving of special and secret re-
bates. Complaints of unjust discrimina-
ton and the giving of urdue and un-
reasonable preferences by the open
rates are frequent, and it is not to be de-
MED that in the existing tariffs there are
many rates which, as compared with
others made by the same carriers seem
to be
UNFAIR AND OPPRESSIVE.
''But even as regards this species of
injustice the good effects Of the law are
manifest" Being now compelled to
justify their rates when called on, the
commission finds, makes managers more
cautious about doing injustice. On the
subject of complaints the reports says
that in majority of cases ''either the
complainant has been found to be mis-
taken in his facts, or if wronged it has
been through careleSSneSS or miSman-
agement which the carrier readily cor
rected, or if the facts presented case
of difference of opinion the parties,
when brought into communication, sue
cseded in finding some basis for settle
ment without further intervention.
This method of disposing of complaints
10 UCliCfCQ NY buC
to be more useful than any other, be-
cause its tendency is toward the estab- |
liShment of desirable relations between |
the carrier and those who must be the !
customer" The report comments at |
some length on the plan adopted by the |
commission of having the hearings be- |
fore it stripped of all unnecessary for
mality, so that plain men could be |
speedily heard without the aid of law |
yers. The commission urges the desira-
bility of uniform freight classification |
throughout the country, but doubts the
ability to reach the matter by legiSla-
ton while, without 1t, there is gradual |
approach to uniformity, effected by the
railroads themselves. Any commission
appointed by the government to make
uniform freight classification would
have to go at it in much the same way.
The commission says:
THE POOLING OF FREIGHTS
and of railroad earnings, so far as the
commission has knowledge or infOrma-
tion on the subject, came to an end
when the act took effect. But pool
ing was only one of the several pur-
poses had in view in forming railroad
associations. The leading associations
have not been dissolved, but have been
continued in existence for other OBJ
jects. Among those objects are the
making of regular rates for uninter-
rupted and harmonious railroad COM
munication and exchange of traffic
within the territory embraced by their
workings. Some regulations in addition
to those tmade by the law are almost if ]